Progressive lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want Americans to be able to visit their local post office for their banking needs.
Sanders, an independent from Vermont, and Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, see “postal banking” as a potential solution for the estimated 32.6 million U.S. households that are “unbanked” or “underbanked,” meaning they don’t have a checking or savings account and often turn to services like check cashing or payday loans that can harm them financially in the long term.